How to network as a creative

Or more accurately: how to avoid horrendous networking meetings and focus on real, meaningful connections.

📸 Teemu Paananen

Networking sucks. At least, I think it does. But not everybody agrees. For years, I’ve wondered why there are so many networking clubs and meetings attended by so many people. If everyone disliked those gatherings as much as I do, those meetings would be eerily desolate.

Eery, they are. Desolate, however, not so much. Almost daily, overdressed people attend utterly boring, coma-inducing get-togethers. They listen to a dull keynote about the future of sales or how to be more persuasive, after which they mingle, share a few drinks, swap a business card or two, and fling out a handful of LinkedIn invitations.

So what is it that makes people go to these meetings in the first place, and how do you make the best of networking as a creative?

Why creatives don’t like networking meetings

I know I can’t speak for everybody, so instead, I will speak for myself. As a designer, I am hard-wired to look for meaning. My natural way of processing the world around me is to constantly try to make sense of things. Big things, small things, everything that crosses my path.